4. BILLING PROCEDURES AND RECURRING TRANSACTIONS
4.1 FINAL FANTASY XIV Subscription Fees. In order to access SQUARE ENIX's servers to play the Game, you must agree to a recurring subscription ("Subscription") with a minimum subscription term of 30 days, and pay a recurring subscription fee ("FFXIV Subscription Fee"). Square Enix may offer different subscription plans in its sole discretion. Further, Square Enix may offer you the chance to purchase additional features for your FFXIV Service Account, which we call "Add-ons" or "Options." Add-ons may be subject to either additional recurring fees or one-time fees. A "Recurring Fee" is a fee that will be charged on a recurring basis until you terminate your subscription. A "One-Time Fee" is fee that is only charged once. All fee rates will be posted at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.fees and any changes to Recurring Fee rates will be posted with 30 days' advance notice and notice will be provided to the Game community. Square Enix may change fee rates at any time in its sole discretion, and will use reasonable efforts to notify you at least 30 days in advance of any changes to any Recurring Fees. All FFXIV Subscription Fees are billed in advance. All FFXIV Subscription Fees are non-refundable, with the limited exception in Section 4.7 below.
4.2 Thirty Days of Free Play Per Service Account Per Platform. For all new FFXIV Service Accounts, the first 30 days of gameplay ("Free Period") is included with your purchase of the Licensed Software in new, unopened (or uninstalled, for digital downloads) condition from an authorized vendor. After the Free Period has ended, you have no further rights to access Square Enix's servers unless you pay the subscription fee in accordance with the terms herein or Square Enix otherwise agrees to provide you with access to its servers. If you are accidently charged within the Free Period, please contact the Square Enix Support Center at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.support for a refund upon confirmation. The 30 days of free gameplay will NOT be provided to any existing FFXIV Service Accounts that subsequently purchase the Licensed Software on the same platform. In other words, if you are creating a new FFXIV Service Account and purchase the PC version of the Licensed Software, you will receive the Free Period. If you subsequently purchase and install a second copy of the PC Version, then you will not receive another Free Period on your existing FFXIV Service Account, but you will receive the free 30 days if you create a new FFXIV Service Account. If you subsequently purchase a PlayStation version of the Licensed Software, then you will receive another Free Period on you existing FFXIV Service Account.
4.3 Recurring Subscription. When the Free Period ends, all players who choose to continue playing the Game will automatically become subject to a recurring subscription. The recurring FFXIV Subscription Fee will be charged in full at the beginning of each billing cycle ("Billing Cycle"). Billing Cycles are discussed in Section 4.4 below. Square Enix may provide prior notice of an impending charge during the login process or via email to your registered email account. Subject to the limited exception for initial charges for certain new fees explained in Section 4.3(a), all Recurring Fees will be combined in a single FFXIV Subscription Fee billed on the same date, regardless of when in the Billing Cycle any modifications were made to the FFXIV Service Account (such as adding a new Recurring Fee).
If you select a longer Billing Cycle, the FFXIV Subscription Fee charged at the beginning of each Billing Cycle will include the entire covered term (meaning, if you choose a 90-day Billing Cycle, you will pay for all 90 days at once). All charges will be automatically charged to your preselected payment method, and once you have been charged for a given Billing Cycle, that charge is non-refundable, subject to the limited exception in Section 4.7 below. You agree to pay the appropriate amount each Billing Cycle until you deactivate your FFXIV Service Account by following the procedures explained at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.cancel. If you deactivated before the beginning of the next Billing Cycle, yet were billed for the next Billing Cycle, please contact the Square Enix Support Center at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.support for a refund upon confirmation.
(a) Pro Rata Billing for Recurring Fees During Billing Cycle. If you add a new Recurring Fee in the middle of a Billing Cycle, the current Billing Cycle's charge for that additional Recurring Fee will be adjusted on a pro rata basis and charged immediately, subject to our minimum transaction fee. For example, if you add an Add-on that is subject to a Recurring Fee on the 15th day of a 90-day Billing Cycle, you will be billed for the remaining 76 days in your 90-day Billing Cycle. Please note that the minimum transaction fee allowed by our billing system for credit card/debit card users at any time is currently USD$1.00 per transaction (and subject to change upon notice to you), even if the prorated charge for would otherwise be less than USD$1.00. For example, if the prorated initial Recurring Fee is only USD$0.57 for, you will be charged USD$1.00.
(b) One-time Fees Billed Immediately. Any One-Time Fees that you incur will be immediately charged to your preselected payment method, and are non-refundable except as set forth in Section 4.7.
4.4 Billing Cycles. A single Billing Cycle will apply to all Recurring Fees. When you first register to play the Game or first commit to a Subscription, you will be given an opportunity to increase the default 30-day Billing Cycle to 60 days or 90 days. If you choose to increase the length of your Billing Cycle, you will be rewarded with a reduced FFXIV Subscription Fee. Please note that you are only receiving a discounted monthly FFXIV Subscription Fee because you are agreeing to prepay for a longer period, and no refunds will be given if you choose to stop playing the Game before the prepaid period ends. You should not change the default 30-day Billing Cycle unless you are prepared to prepay for the longer Billing Cycle.
4.5 Changes to Billing Cycles. You may increase or decrease the length of subsequent Billing Cycles at any time. However, the change will not take place until the end of the current Billing Cycle. For example, if you agree to a 90-day Billing Cycle and decide 15 days later to reduce it to a 30-day Billing Cycle, the change will not occur until the 90-day Billing Cycle has ended, at which time, you will be switched to a 30-day Billing Cycle.
4.6 Failed Transactions. If Square Enix's attempt to charge/debit your preselected payment method fails, you may lose access to the Game when your Subscription expires until you resolve the issue. If you have lost access, your next Billing Cycle will begin on the date you successfully pay. Square Enix does not charge late fees or interest for access to the Game.
4.7 Refunds in Exceptional Circumstances Only. The entirety of your FFXIV Subscription Fee is applied by Square Enix to the FFXIV Service Account on the day that it is charged.
All charges related to the Game are non-refundable unless third-party criminal activity is involved, as determined by Square Enix. Therefore, if you deactivate your FFXIV Service Account in the middle of a 90-day Billing Cycle, you will not receive a refund for the remainder of the Billing Cycle, but may continue to play the Game until the Billing Cycle ends.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Square Enix revises the License Agreement or this User Agreement and you reject either when they are first presented to you for acceptance, you will be required to deactivate your FFXIV Service Account and will immediately lose access to the Game. In such circumstances, upon request, and if the revision was material, Square Enix may refund you a pro rata portion of the most recently-billed FFXIV Subscription Fee. In order to combat fraud, Square Enix will only issue these extraordinary refunds to the payment method(s) used for the relevant transaction(s).
4.8 Deactivation of Subscription. You may deactivate your FFXIV Service Account and/or any individual Recurring Fees at any time. Other than the exception explained in Section 4.3(a), no further billing related to the deactivated FFXIV Service Account will occur until you reactivate by following the procedures explained at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.support. If you believe that you have been accidently charged by Square Enix after you deactivated, please contact the Square Enix Support Center at
http://sqex.to/ffxiv.na.support for a refund upon confirmation.
4.9 Reactivation of FFXIV Service Account. You may reactivate your FFXIV Service Account at any time, so long as the Game is still made available by Square Enix and account-related data has not been deleted or corrupted. If you reactivate your FFXIV Service Account prior to the end of the current Billing Cycle (meaning, while you still have access), you will retain your original Billing Cycle and will not have to pay another FFXIV Subscription Fee for that period. Otherwise, your new Billing Cycle will commence on or about the first day you reactivate your FFXIV Service Account (subject to adjustment by Square Enix).
4.10 About FINAL FANTASY XIV Service Accounts. You may have a limited number of FFXIV Service Accounts attached to a single Square Enix Account.
